Watching Too Much 24.

Benji Sarlin reports on two Republican candidates for office who, while serving in the military, were accused of crimes against detainees in American custody. Here's Ilario Pantano, running in North Carolina's 7th Congressional Distict:

In April 2004, Pantano killed two unarmed Iraqi detainees, twice unloading his gun into their bodies and firing between 50 and 60 shots in total. Afterward, he placed a sign over the corpses featuring the Marines' slogan “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy” as a message to the local population.

West was forced to retire from the Army and fined $5,000 after he admitted to apprehending an Iraqi policeman he suspected of planning an ambush, watching as his troops beat him, and then firing a gunshot by the Iraqi’s head in order to scare him into divulging information. West said the decision saved lives by preventing an ambush. But no plot was ever discovered and the policeman in question later told The New York Times that he had no knowledge of any attacks.

Once the news network Al-Jazeera made an interview request for West. West's spokesperson subsequently called the FBI because West feared that Al-Jazeera was trying to kidnap him.

Sarlin refers to these men as "Jack Bauer Republicans," in reference to the fictional protagonist on 24 which many Republicans have treated as reality. I'm struggling to decide how we would describe people who had done these things if they were running for office in Iraq or Afghanistan.

-- A. Serwer